1
as in cerebral
much given to learning and thinking
as the daughter of college professors, she's used to being around intellectual people
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in internal
of or relating to the mind
intellectual pursuits such as reading and studying
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in educational
of or relating to schooling or learning especially at an advanced level
research that shows that people from very intellectual backgrounds are happiest with spouses having comparable educations
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in nerd
a person with strong intellectual interests
discovered that in politics a reputation for being an intellectual was regarded as a liability
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of intellectual
Sandy Hudson, refinery29.com, 9 July 2025
No dance-pop band has dropped a collection of hits as intellectual, odd, and wonderful as Pet Shop Boys did between 1985 and 1991.
—Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald, 4 July 2025
Joseph Torigian, Foreign Affairs, 23 June 2025
Hughes—economist, former English major, Harvard roommate of Mark Zuckerberg turned multimillionaire after selling his Facebook stock, and public intellectual—brings a storyteller’s instinct to a traditionally arid subject.
—Teresa Ghilarducci, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for intellectual
Adjective
Sandy Hudson is an activist, public intellectual, creative, and the author of Defund: Black Lives Policing and Safety for All.
—Sandy Hudson, refinery29.com, 9 July 2025
No dance-pop band has dropped a collection of hits as intellectual, odd, and wonderful as Pet Shop Boys did between 1985 and 1991.
—Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald, 4 July 2025
Noun
Another came to associate with veteran pro-reform officials and intellectuals.
—Joseph Torigian, Foreign Affairs, 23 June 2025
Hughes—economist, former English major, Harvard roommate of Mark Zuckerberg turned multimillionaire after selling his Facebook stock, and public intellectual—brings a storyteller’s instinct to a traditionally arid subject.
—Teresa Ghilarducci, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for intellectual
Recent Examples of Synonyms for intellectual
Adjective
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This was the height of San Sebastian’s reign as the European city with the most Michelin stars per capita—an era of relentless invention, experimentation and cerebral modernist cuisine.—
Ann Abel,
Forbes.com,
22 July 2025
-
Rarely will the path to any one gem require heavy thought or planning; the game’s more concerned about making sure the physical actions required to get to the destination feel more satisfying than any cerebral solutions.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
16 July 2025
Adjective
-
Her experience reflects an agency with spotty internal communication.—
Juwayriah Wright,
Time,
15 July 2025
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The layoffs are supposed to take effect in August, according to internal Education Department emails obtained by ABC News, right as many of the nation's schools return for a new school year.—
Arthur Jones II,
ABC News,
15 July 2025
Noun
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Catchers need breaks, and regression is every baseball nerd’s favorite word.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
20 July 2025
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Showrunner Tony Tost was truly an angel, and everyone on board were such freak-ass nerds about TV and cinema, and were so excited to share all these reference points with me, like Colombo.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
10 July 2025
Adjective
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Ruiz said being able to advance academic achievement and community involvement in a city like Milwaukee, with high poverty rates and racial achievement gaps, is remarkable and can help elevate education citywide.—
Mia Thurow,
jsonline.com,
24 July 2025
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The program is packed with fan-favorite talent, panels, game tournaments, movie screenings, academic and legal sessions, and meetups.—
Rob Salkowitz,
Forbes.com,
23 July 2025
Adjective
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The teen may feel invisible, unheard or powerless in other areas of life, and their eating disorder may become a way to express that inner turmoil without saying much.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
16 July 2025
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But for each of these artists, there are countless others who lack the inner resources needed to be away so long from their friends and family—not to say, their material—and for whom exile is arid and sterile.—
Aatish Taseer,
Time,
15 July 2025
Noun
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Deadline asks the Festival chief whether Series Mania is focused on the highbrow of the drama spectrum.—
Stewart Clarke,
Deadline,
6 Mar. 2025
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Wagner would be a sleepless highbrow’s favorite; the long, lush, unbroken lines of music share with the white-noise hum of the air-conditioner or the thrum of the painstaking lecture the quality of being absorbing without offering undue eventfulness.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
20 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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This family journey deeply shaped Fisher’s lifelong scholarly drive to chronicle the struggles and the triumphs of Black communities in the American West.—
Sacbee.com,
Sacbee.com,
14 July 2025
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Of course, the sort of collection that attracts scholarly attention tends toward the rare and precious rather than Izod alligators.—
Libby Buck
July 1,
Literary Hub,
1 July 2025
Adjective
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This definition also includes instance in which the victim is incapable of giving consent because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity (include due to the influence of drugs or alcohol) or because of age.—
Baltimore Sun staff,
Baltimore Sun,
11 Apr. 2025
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Without supervision or regulation, kids can easily stumble upon explicit material, including violent and extremist content, that can lead to mental distress, desensitization and a warped perception of the world around them.—
Richard Wistocki,
Chicago Tribune,
10 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Intellectual.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/intellectual. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.
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